| |
Egyptians kept cats as pets as early as the 4th millennium BC. Cats were mummified in ancient Egypt. This bronze sculpture was probably a coffin for a cat; the mummy of the cat would have been inserted into the bottom of the base.
Sacred animal cults, which have a long history in Egypt, became especially important from the Late Period on (beginning about 664 BC). The cat represents the Goddess Bast, the daughter of the sun-god.
Because each god was able to take the form of a species of animal, beasts of all sorts-dogs, cats, ibises, crocodiles-were protected, venerated, carefully mummified, and then collected by the thousands in specialized cemeteries.
|  |
